Without government subsidies to the wind industry,there is no wind industry.

Defense Department Rebuffs Pioneer Green Energy in Maryland

Fresh on the heels of the denial from the FAA to extend their construction clearance for a wind project in Erie County, PA, Pioneer Green Energy has been dealt another major blow. The US Department of Defense has determined another proposed Pioneer effort, the Great Bay Wind project in Somerset County, Maryland:

… would significantly impair or degrade the capability of the Department of Defense to conduct research, development, testing and evaluation, and operations, or to maintain military readiness.

Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer said:

Today the Department of Defense objected to the proposed Great Bay Wind project on the grounds that it poses a significant threat to the mission and world-class stealth radar system at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Delegate John Bohanan and I were confident that once the project was fully reviewed by the Department of Defense, after consultation with various service branches that utilize Pax River, this would be the outcome. It was the right decision, and I applaud the Department of Defense leadership for recognizing the threat this project poses to a critical national security asset.

Five or six years ago, there were so many wind projects being proposed it was difficult for the respective agencies to take the necessary time to fully study the impacts of any one proposal. Now, with the advantage of some years to look more closely, and also with the experience of seeing earlier installations in operation, the problems are becoming much more apparent.

We, too, applaud the DoD for making this determination and we’re pretty sure the residents of Somerset County, Maryland are pleased as well.

Comments

Finally, the Department of Defense speaks. Pioneer Green received multiple reports from Patuxant Naval Air Station spelling out that heights of less than 400′ were required by the Department of Defense to keep the integrity of their base operations. Despite being told over and over for the last 4 years, Pioneer Green continued to increase the size of the turbines to 5.0 MW and 599-690 foot heights.
The wind resource in Somerset County Maryland is poor/marginal. It makes no sense to place industrial wind here, but Pioneer Green believed their political connections would shield them from playing by the rules.

Unfortunately

The less you know about wind energy, the more you'll like it.

Wind energy runs on tax credits

"I will do anything that is basically covered by the law to reduce Berkshire's tax rate, for example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That's the only reason to build them. They don't make sense without the tax credit."~ Warren Buffett - from interview with Fortune magazine

Wind investments and high cost green energy

“I’m in the wind business … I’ve lost my ass in the business. ... Hey, we can get on everything green. We can get on everything renewable. Then the cost of power will go up ten times."~ T. Boone Pickens - on Morning Joe on MSNBC

Wind Turbine Map

Information you'll only see here.

The complete map of all of the wind turbines proposed by Pioneer Green Energy in Erie County, PA and filed with the FAA. Plans not yet filed are not shown.